1. Field
A. The disclosed teachings relate to a leg knee-rest used for anchoring a violin that is used for playing in the Indian classical music style.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two types of classical music styles are in vogue in India. They are named Hindustani and Carnatic styles of music. In both styles of music, violin is played both as a lead instrument in a chamber music style or as an accompanying instrument. A typical vocal chamber music concert includes a lead singer and possibly one or two accompanying singers squatting cross-legged on the floor. One or two accompanying violinists also sit on the floor next to the vocalists. One or two percussionists also sit on the floor on the other side of the vocalist. In some chamber music concerts, there may be a lead instrumentalist replacing the lead vocalist. In some cases, the violinist himself/herself would be the lead instrumentalist. However, in most cases in the Carnatic style of music a violinist accompanies the lead singer.
As noted above, all the singers sit on the floor. Therefore, the violinist is required to sit on the floor. In western violin, the violinist holds the bow in one hand. Using the other hand, the violinist holds down the string on the fingerboard at an appropriate location depending on the desired frequency. The same hand that is used to hold down the string is also used to hold the violin. In other words, the non-bow hand serves the dual purpose of holding the violin as well as holding down the string onto the fingerboard.
However, a violinist plays the Indian violin while sitting down cross legged on the floor. FIG. 1 shows a violinist sitting cross-legged on the floor in the traditional style. For a right-handed person, the right leg is extended forward a bit and the violin is anchored between the left chin and the concave inner portion of the heel as shown in FIG. 1. As can be seen, in the Indian classical style of playing violin, the stringing hand or the non-bow hand is used only to hold down the string onto the fingerboard to generate the right note. This hand is not used to hold the weight of the violin. Also, by having the ability to move the feet and the chin in unison, the violinist develops a feel for positioning the violin to give the maximum effect to his/her unique style of playing. Also, the Indian violinist enjoys a greater flexibility in the use of the stringing or non-bow hand because it is not required to hold the weight of the violin.
It is clear that for playing in the Indian style of music sitting cross-legged is necessary. This poses a problem for people who for some medical reason cannot sit cross legged on the floor. Such a condition is very often seen as people grow older and have a knee problem. In some cases, because of a replacement knee, it may not be possible to bend the knee for sitting cross-legged on the floor. After becoming comfortable with anchoring the violin in a specific way according to the traditional Indian style of sitting cross-legged on the floor, they will find it difficult to play violin sitting on a chair and being forced to hold the violin with the stringing or non-bow hand. This does not give the same feel as what they are used to and will affect the way in which they play the violin. They will feel the need to relearn playing the violin while holding the weight of the violin. For a professional musician, this could lead to a severe undermining of their career if they are unable to deliver the same quality of music as they were used to delivering because of the need to hold the weight of the violin. Furthermore, they may also need to develop additional strength to hold the weight of the violin for periods extending in some cases to three hours as the typical concerts could be that long.
The disclosed teachings are aimed at overcoming these disadvantage and providing a technique for playing the violin Indian style while seated on a chair and without the need to hold up the violin using the non-bow or stringing hand.